Earthquake and Antarctica

We all suffered from waking up in the night. I woke up totally awake with my phone showing 11.45. I as convinced it must have gone back to UK time, but no I had only been asleep for about 3 hours. I was then awake for about 2 or 3 hours before dropping off again. Tash was similar and got comments from her friend Benny back in the UK about why she was on Instagram at 3am NZ time!

Breakfast was lovely and the kids were entertained by the friendly dog who loved Ed's crumbs and then went out to feed scraps to the chickens.

We repacked bags to enable easier unloading at future venues then set off to get Tash some fresh clothes. I called Emirates who then called me back to say bag should be in NZ today. We ended up arranging for it to be delivered to our motel in Arthur's Pass tomorrow, so fingers crossed. We had originally planned to do the Christchurch Gondola cable car, but given the rainy, cloudy weather we decided not to as we wouldn't be able to see very much!

So first off we found the shopping mall Maggie had given us directions too and Tash got a few things, also I got a fairly cheap camera for Ed as we couldn't charge his up. From there we headed into Christchurch and found a parking spot eventually near the museum (we drove around and around for a while as the spots were all taken) - no change for the machine and couldn't make it take our credit card so we bought a postcard from the visitor centre and paid for two hours. Went into museum, which included a rebuilt house that an old couple had decorated internally with Paua shells and exhibited as a tourist attraction. Their son had donated it to the museum after they died. Tash bought a shell then her usual antipathy for museums was kicking ion so we moved on.

From the museum we headed into the central square and saw the earthquake damaged cathedral and all the buildings that had been demolished. The cathedral was a sad and poignant looking memorial. We went to the container mall, with shops in shipping containers and had a coffee and bought some socks! Then got Merino scarves, hats and gloves for everyone, ours Merino and possum, Ed's pure merino with pictures of little sheep on them..

Then back to the car and we headed to the Antarctic Centre nack out near the airport. This was a fun place, we went into a room that simulated an arctic storm. It was minus 8 to begin with, with snow on the ground and an igloo inside. Then fans came on and sent the temperature with wind chill down to minus 18. You got an extra coat and special boots to wear over your shoes to stop you slipping.

Next was the Hangalan ride, a tracked vehicle and trailer, which we were strapped into and went around an adventure course with 36 degree slopes and a 7m hill with a 1m gap in the middle that the tracks could span across. Lastly we went speeding through a 3m deep lake , with water half way up the back window. The vehicle is also amphibious and could power itself along with the tracks acting as paddles.

There is a blue penguin colony at the centre, rescue birds, and we saw them being fed - they are the smallest penguin in the world and live in New Zealand. We also saw a 4d movie, getting sprayed with water, fake snow and bubbles. Waiting to go in the movie we chatted to some guys from the US who worked for NASA and were over at the US Antarctic research base just across the road. They'd been involved in the recent probe sent to Mars and had flown over in a big military carrier, stopping in Hawaii for lunch!

We left about 4.45 with cuddly penguin and seal (of course) and drove to Darfield. Took just over half an hour and the motel room is very nice. We went to the supermarket for a few essentials and then to the Terrace Cafe for a very nice meal and bottle of Riesling (the Doctor's)

Got a call from Ballooning Canterbury to say we are on for tomorrow (I was convinced it would be off given the grey skies and cloudy weather that dat but it had cleared as the day went on, with snow expected later on Saturday). Early start, need to be with them by 7am!Read more